Struggling to self isolate a 14 year old

[GHobby]

Hi,
Is anyone else struggling to keep their teenager in? My 14 year old son who smokes weed (which is worrying because he will need it) is struggling. He stayed in more than normal yesterday but did honour although we used that as his walk.
He's not a bad boy but I just need to get him to see the seriousness

Well if there was a reason to be thankful for a lock down this is it. Weed is not physically addictive so he doesn't 'need it ' so to speak, he 'wants it'.
I'm a nurse, a mental health worker and believe me you need to address this now before the damage is irreversible. An occasional bit of weed as an adult, not horrendous ( alcohol will cause more problems) but chronic cannabis use in adolescence- significant problems will likely result..) Parent your child and keep them in doors.

You came on to a public parenting forum and announced that your 14 year old is engaging in illegal activities. What reaction did you expect? There is no justification for what he's doing - it's illegal. If you're not actively trying to stop him you're enabling him.

Lock your door. Keep the key in your pocket.

Struggle over, no?

If your son needs weed surely this is social distancing is the best thing for him.
It will reduce his chances of hanging out with the wrong crowd, buying weed and hopefully stop smoking. Anybody who quits smoking whether its weed or just tobacco is going to find it hard at first but he will feel a million times better once the addiction is broken.

Glad to see I’m not the only one shocked that a 14 year old ‘smokes weed’ and the parents know about it and are apparently fine with it.

That’s both illegal and damaging to his health, and his brain!

Fair enough (in a sense) if he was 18+ but still lived at home. But 14?! Would the OP be fine with a 13 year old, 12, 11, 10...?!

This isn’t an attack by the way, just my own personal opinion.

I call bullshit

Wow I'm impressed by all the perfect parents here. Either you've never had or known teenagers properly or you didn't know actually know what they or their friends did.

OP - I understand.

What a bunch of hypocrites 👎

I smoked weed from age 13 stopped when I was 19. Gave me extreme paranoia which started mildly when I was 16. I didn't admit to myself that it was the pot until I was 19 and because of that it took me around a decade to restore the confidence I had lost and to completely stop being a weirdo. goin off track a bit but I'm new to this site and this is the first thread I've seen that I feel I can add something worthwhile to.
I've seen friends suffer similar symptoms and much worse. I know lots of people aren't affected by pot and will dismiss this but if it does affect you negatively you must stop it's just not worth destroying your life for.
Show this to your kids if you think they'd benefit from it.

Show him the most scary videos of wards of people on ventilators in Italy. Show him the plans to turn Olympia into a huge hospital for Corona patients only. Show him the reports of healthy 18 and 21 year olds dying.

He needs to quit smoking everything pronto for his lungs to stand a chance, and isolate so that he and his family stand a chance.

@FatEthel23 I believe you. I shared two joints between three of us once and I was not mentally right for months.

Having been there three years ago with my then 14 year old, you can try everything and no one gives a shit. School, social services, police, youth workers. The only thing we got was one organisation who told her how to take drugs safely. It was an eye opener to me how relaxed everyone is about drugs.

Wow-hopefully this will wake you up. You need to parent your son. He’s your responsibility. Why have you let him get this way at 14??

Hi G! I'm a 15 year old teen mom, now it's obvious I'm isolated with my son but the father does not live with us and constantly goes outside (he smokes weed too when he's not around us), so I completely understand the struggle with that, I mean I'm sure you've tried explaining just how dangerous the virus is! I really don't know how exactly to help but here's a few ideas he might listen to:

1. Explaining how it can affect his family members (ex: little siblings or people over 50) , how it may not affect him as much but that they can be in critical or severe condition
2. Find activities to distract his mind, something inside that will help keep him occupied or not thinking of weed
3. (I don't prefer this but it's really up to you) the cannabis stores are opening again so maybe make him a deal? He can get a certain amount if he stays inside the house

I'm sorry for the judgement people, i get how things can be difficult I'm sure you're doing great!!! ❤️

Who buys his weed?

Loads of 14 year olds smoke weed, loads.

Loads of parents don’t know, loads

If your kid is in with the “cool gang” they probably do weed, spice, ketamine etc

It’s everywhere and they start at 12/13

I understood the “need” in the OP as in he is used to taking it and will try to get in touch with his dealer, which is not great (in terms werd, and as it would break corona laws/rules)

It’s tough. I hope you can use the lockdown to reconnect a bit with him, discuss why drugs are problematic, and how to get out of that peer group (if possible)

But yeah, it is rife. Loads of MNers are just not aware

Maybe loads of 14 year old kids do smoke weed, I can believe it. But my kids doesn’t and if I discovered they did I would be sorting it out.

Can you ween him off the weed and onto something else? rescue drops or something the dr can prescribe? While he's not with friends is perfect time to get him straightened out. Filling the gap is the tricky part - strength to you.